His path to redemption
by Sonya-Heather-DeVito
Summary: Severus attempts to fix all the mistakes he'd made in exchange for his life. Set after the first Wizarding War, where Voldemort wins and successfully the Potters and Harry that Samhain night of 1981. Canon Divergence.


_A/N: The fic is set after the attack on the Potter's on Samhain 1981. Voldemort wins that night, meaning he was successful in killing the Potters and Harry The other child of the Prophecy, Neville, was murdered too. I do not own Harry Potter; it solely belongs to J.K. Rowling! _

_House: Ravenclaw_

_Year: Prefect_

_Category: AUs_

_Prompt: Voldemort Wins! AU_

_Word Count: 1719 (As of Google Docs)_

* * *

"Don't be a fool, Severus! Do you have any clue what you're getting yourself into?" Lucius hissed worriedly, clutching onto his best friend's arm tightly. "What if_ He_ finds out? He will not hesitate to kill you. Our Lord is _not_ merciful."

Lucius eagerly waited for an answer, for some reaction from Severus, but none came. Severus' dark eyes continued staring into the distance, hollow and lifeless, as if he'd finally given up on his pathetic excuse of a life.

Perhaps he had. After all, he was the reason that Lily Potter was dead. Had Severus not informed the Dark Lord of the blasted prophecy, she would have been alive and well, living a happy life with her husband and child. Alas, the temptation to take revenge had been too sweet, too alluring, and in the end, Severus had lost everything.

"I should have known." His voice was a mere whisper in the deafening silence of the Manor. "I should have remembered. The Dark Lord is not merciful, not regretful. He never has been, and yet, I expected..."

"What are you saying, Severus?" Lucius asked, confused.

"When I realized that the Prophecy pointed towards not one but two children, one of them being Lily's child, I tried to fix my mistake." Severus looked at Lucius when he spoke the next words. "I begged him."

Lucius' eyes widened. In all the years they had spent together at Hogwarts, he knew how much self-respect mattered to his half-blood friend. Severus never asked for anyone's help; his home life had taught him to not expect anything from anyone, and yet, he'd begged the most dangerous and ruthless wizard of all time. For Lily.

"I rubbed my nose against his feet when he mocked me, taunted me for being an emotional fool and for caring about her. For caring about the one who chose my bully over me. I should have known not to trust him." Severus swallowed hard. "I've made my decision, Lucius. I'm going to turn myself in. Maybe that way, I can repay the price of my actions and my betrayal to _her_." He didn't dare say Lily's name, because Severus was sure that he if he spoke it, he wouldn't be able to control his emotions, his tears, any longer—the guilt, the regret, the darkness inside his heart was all-consuming.

"Severus, don't do this. Please." There was worry written clearly in Lucius' eyes. "If not for me, then for Narcissa and Draco. She would be heartbroken if anything happened to you. You know that very well."

"And I love her too. You, Narcissa and Draco will always be my family. I am forever indebted to you for the immense respect and love you've shown me, but this is something that I have to do alone." The look in Severus' eyes urged Lucius to understand him, to support him. He'd never been a brave man in any sense, but he was trying to do the right thing.

"Take care of yourself. Take care of Cissa and my godson."

With those parting words, Severus turned around and left, black robes billowing behind him in a determined swish. He didn't dare look behind even once, for he knew if he did so, he wouldn't be able to leave them — leave his _family _behind_._

* * *

"Thank you for accepting my invitation and agreeing to meet with me, Headmaster," Severus began, not knowing what else to say.

"I'm not the Headmaster anymore, Severus. He is. He won, and I lost. And I let the others down—those who trusted me, believed in me." Every word that Albus said was punctuated, clearly portraying the guilt he was carrying upon his shoulders.

"That is besides the point, though. Why did you want to meet me?" Professor Dumbledore's voice wasn't as calm and composed as it usually was. Instead, it was dripping with exhaustion and failure, and he looked tired and far too old.

"It was me. I was the one who informed him about the Prophecy." His head was bowed in shame as he spoke, waiting for an angry outburst from the older wizard, but it never came. Professor Dumbledore looked at him as if he already knew everything.

"What you've done doesn't matter now. It won't change anything. James, Lily, and Harry are dead. Neville Longbottom died a brave death too—the little one tried to hang onto life despite the dark curses he'd endured, but couldn't. Frank and Alice Longbottom have suffered a fate no one should have—they were forced to watch their child being murdered. The Cruciatus didn't take away their sanity, Neville's death did."

A tear slipped from Severus' eye of its own accord. It hurt to hear what he'd done, to hear how his rash decision had destroyed so many lives. There had been a murder spree of innocent children in Wizarding Britain as soon as the Dark Lord had heard the Prophecy—he didn't want any hurdle in his path to become a god. And he'd succeeded. He'd succeeded in killing so many innocent children belonging to Light families, and half-bloods and muggleborns alike.

"Whatever I have done cannot be changed, but perhaps, I could give you some information that would change the cruel fate of Wizarding World."

"That is why I decided to come here irrespective of the risk, Severus. You wrote in your letter that you could help. I'm hoping that's true. I'm hoping it's not one of Tom's plan to lure me into a trap. But I'm not sure if I can trust you."

That seemed fair. Severus hadn't done anything to prove that he wasn't on the Dark Lord's side anymore.

"Sirius Black is innocent. He didn't betray Potter. It was Peter Pettigrew."

Albus' eyes widened at that. It seemed that he'd truly believed that Black was the guilty one here.

"Are you certain?" the Headmaster asked in urgency.

"Pettigrew bears the Dark Mark. I've seen him in meetings, too." He didn't dare say what he'd been doing in those meetings, but was thankful that the Headmaster didn't ask him anything about it.

"Then I've made a terrible mistake by not believing Sirius." Albus sighed in defeat as he took a seat on the sofa behind him. Severus remained rooted in his place. He'd taken a great risk by inviting the Headmaster to his home, and if either the Dark Lord or any of his loyal followers found that out, it wouldn't end well for him. Thus, his rigid stance remained even in the safety of his own home.

"You must listen to what I have to say." Severus kneeled in front of Dumbledore so as to look him straight in the eye. "You have to stop him. You have to destroy him or else he'll destroy everything in his path."

"We can't. Tom has already won the war, Severus. I can't stop him now."

"You can't give up, Headmaster. There is a way to destroy him, I know." He saw the tiniest glint of hope in Albus' eyes at that.

"How? What is it that you know?" Albus asked with a hint of desperation in his eyes.

"He's all but immortal. Even if we succeed in killing him, he won't die. He would find a way to come back."

"And how do you know it? How did you come across this information?" Though Severus was trying to fix his mistakes, he knew that the Headmaster didn't trust him fully.

"I had the chance to sneak into Abraxas Malfoy's private study. It took some time, but I was able to find the diary in which he'd written important things — his school years with the Dark Lord, his immortality, his coming to power and how it would benefit the House of Malfoy. He'd also written about the day when he'd learnt about the Dark Lord's lineage and the day he'd committed his first kill. And the day he achieved immortality. I don't know how he did it though." Severus told Albus every piece of information that he'd found.

"Is there anything else, Severus? Anything at all?" Albus urged him.

"I found that he'd done some extensive research on 'Horcruxes', though I didn't understand it fully," he said after much thought, and the colour drained from Albus' face. He stumbled and almost fell to the ground when the Headmaster stood rather abruptly.

"What is it, Albus?" he asked as the Headmaster paced worriedly in the small room.

"This is beyond everything I'd imagined. But then again, Tom has always been extraordinary. Oh, Tom, what have you done?" Albus sighed in defeat.

"I don't understand." Severus voiced, after giving the Headmaster some time to contemplate his thoughts.

"A Horcrux is the result of very dark magic, dark enough to corrupt a soul," Albus said cryptically.

"Does this mean that he can't be destroyed? Can't be stopped?"

"He can. But I can't do it alone. As much as I know Tom, he wouldn't have stopped at one Horcrux, so it'll take time."

"I will help you." The determination in his voice made Albus spin around and look at him.

"It's not going to be easy," Albus warned.

"I'd be a fool to expect anything less." He could still read the hesitation in Albus's eyes. "Give me a chance, please."

"If the soul can be corrupted, so can be the mind and the heart. The journey ahead is dangerous." Severus waited expectantly for him to finish the sentence. "An Unbreakable Vow. That is what I ask of you in return."

His mind started reeling at that. An Unbreakable Vow meant becoming a pawn of Dumbledore's orders, he knew very well. His life would be in constant danger, and what about the time when the Dark Lord found out about his dubiousness. He was more concerned about Lucius, Narcissa and little Draco.

"It's your choice, Severus. But know that Lily would be really proud of you."

He wasn't a fool to think that Dumbledore wasn't dangerous. After all, he was the only person that the Dark Lord had ever worried about. But Severus wasn't doing anything for him. He was doing it for Lily.

Without much hesitation, he placed his hand in the Headmaster's and watched nervously as the golden threads of the Unbreakable Vow bound his fate forever.

Maybe, Lily would forgive him.


End file.
